Couple o' things - I used a 'Five-Star' brand tensioner in my 22RE and it failed to provide tension on startup after about 10K miles. Very disappointing. The entire timing kit was something like $55, instead of the $300 for Toyota parts, but I wouldn't do it again.

Also, my Toyota mechanic buddy warns me that head gaskets simply wear out or get weak around 180-200K, due to thermal cycling, and that's why it's a good idea to replace them with the timing chain. They may not fail outright at that mileage, but any other incident (such as mild overheating) can cause them to fail. I just did a Camry that suffered this and you sure see a lot of Toyotas for sale on Craigslist with 200K miles and a blown head gasket, or a blown engine because of it.

Let's put it this way: I am still 3 weeks away from a steady paycheck and my dad is in the middle of a barn-building project. But I don't want to completely slack. I plan on keeping the truck a long time. Along this vein our local mechanic (who's worked on many a 22R-E and RT-E etc.) sources his kits that say the parts are OEM and are labelled Tsubakimoto. It's $150 for the whole shabang, and I figure if he trusts it enough that part of his business is based on it (a redo of a timing chain is not a trivial thing to do because your parts were bad) I think we're going to go with it.

As far as the HG is concerned, at this point I'm pretty gunshy just because I have a lot of the engine apart as it is and have a lot of gaskets etc. to replace, again remember the budget. If something starts to happen with the HG even in a month or two it'll be fine because I can then afford to do it right and git 'er done then. Just right now to get the truck driving again it's not necessary. This truck was owned previously by two older gentlemen who had it dealer serviced, so not too worried about the coolant etc. It is good to know that I will probably be going back into this engine to do the HG soon but I am willing to do that as its own project later.

Unless you have to pull the timing chain to do the HG...oo actually I might have just convinced myself to go ahead and do it. If I do though the truck will have to sit that much longer. Hmmmm.

Let's put it this way: I am still 3 weeks away from a steady paycheck and my dad is in the middle of a barn-building project. But I don't want to completely slack. I plan on keeping the truck a long time. Along this vein our local mechanic (who's worked on many a 22R-E and RT-E etc.) sources his kits that say the parts are OEM and are labelled Tsubakimoto. It's $150 for the whole shabang, and I figure if he trusts it enough that part of his business is based on it (a redo of a timing chain is not a trivial thing to do because your parts were bad) I think we're going to go with it.

kinda like the transmission kit I bought, not from Toyota. All the bearings were identical, including the brand and part number, but it cost $200 instead of $500 or something. Sounds like a plan.

Quote:

As far as the HG is concerned, at this point I'm pretty gunshy just because I have a lot of the engine apart as it is and have a lot of gaskets etc. to replace, again remember the budget. If something starts to happen with the HG even in a month or two it'll be fine because I can then afford to do it right and git 'er done then. Just right now to get the truck driving again it's not necessary. This truck was owned previously by two older gentlemen who had it dealer serviced, so not too worried about the coolant etc. It is good to know that I will probably be going back into this engine to do the HG soon but I am willing to do that as its own project later.

Unless you have to pull the timing chain to do the HG...oo actually I might have just convinced myself to go ahead and do it. If I do though the truck will have to sit that much longer. Hmmmm.

You can hold up the chain reeeeeeal keerful like I think. Maybe. And hope it doesn't slip a tooth. Wouldn't be easy at all but I've not tried it.

Guess not. And BTW I don't have all that much experience.
The easy way to pull the pan is just pull the motor ... like I'm doing now to a 1993 pickup. (rear main seal is seeping, I HATE HATE HATE oil leaks. Besides, it looks like the POs did something less than good work as I survey how things like gaskets & half moons, O2 sensor wiring, reverse light wire patching, etc. were installed... )

Just checking before I button it up too far...as long as the bright links align with the marks on the gears and nothing moved then it should be good to go right? The driver's side a *little* bit of slack, I don't know if it's supposed to be completely taught, I guess it is when the truck is running. Neither the cam nor the crank moved at all.

The reason I'm asking is because the instructions I'm following say to rotate the crank clockwise a little bit to get the cam gear on then rotate it back to preload the chain. I *think* I can do that if I slip it one more tooth on the crank gear, but then the bright link won't line up with the mark on the crank gear. But then of course the cam won't be exactly where it is now either, it will be slightly clockwise from where it is now.

Basically I'm just checking that it's okay for the driver's side to have a little slack, like it can move maybe 1/2" side to side.

I thought about it and it struck me that if it was different then as it rotated it would get out of sync with the hatch marks, which I don't think happens. Okay only a couple more ancillaries to go, took the day off today, and start it back up!